Resurrection Mall available now from Down & Out Books.
Look for the newest Nick Forte novel, Bad Samaritan, in January, also from Down & Out Books.

One Bite at a Time

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

I Did That on Purpose

Ed McBain used to
tell of readers who’d point out inconsistencies in Isola geography between
books written years apart. One even sent McBain what amounted to an atlas of
every location he’d ever mentioned in all the 87th Precinct novels.
(If memory serves, this included hand-drawn maps.) McBain couldn’t decide
whether to be flattered or concerned. I mean, the guy clearly loved the books
and bought them as soon as they were available. On the other hand, what kind of
holes was he filing in his life that he took that kind of time living in
Isola’s alternate universe?

All writers are
subject to this, though not to the same extent. Readers love to point out
errors. Sometimes it’s out of affection and a desire to see a favorite author
get something right. Sometimes it’s a way to show their knowledge of a certain
field is superior to the author’s. (Or at least that they think it is. Readers
who point out perceived errors are not always correct themselves.) And some are
just pricks playing “Gotcha” in the hope of proving (to themselves, likely)
that while this big shot author may be making money off his writing, he’s no
smarter than I am.

Authors respond in
different ways. Some ignore any such comments. Some engage, either to agree
with the reader and apologize for the error, or to point out the reader’s
error. The latter can be fraught with peril. Among my favorite panels at
Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity conferences is when the guests of honor get
together to talk about their mail and detail some of the exchanges they’ve had
over accuracy, or, more precisely, the lack thereof. The stories range from hilarious
to chilling.

Some authors argue,
which even I, argumentative as anyone, see no profit in. Even worse are those
who argue publicly when a reviewer points out an error in a forum such as
Amazon or Goodreads. There’s no upside to that. It deteriorates into a pissing
contest no one can win and the author can’t help but come off as the bad guy,
punching down in weight class.

The best response
to readers who point out errors, the one I’m adopting right now and from this
point forward, the one I’m pissed I hadn’t thought of, and the one I consider
PFG (Pure Fucking Genius), comes courtesy of Adrian McKinty, author of the Sean
Duffy series. (Which I cannot recommend highly enough.) It’s from an old blog post I stumbled onto while reading a recent entry.

In short, when a
reader points out an inconsistency with fact in one of the Duffy books—say, a
road not yet built when the story takes place—Adrian explains that Duffy’s
fictional world exists in an alternate universe where the road had been built. He freely cops to
inconsistencies such as a character’s eyes changing color during the book:
Sorry, mate, you caught me out there. I’ll see can it be changed for the
paperback. Facts are more fluid and may need adjustment to get to the greater
truth. (To a point. The Duffy books take place in Northern Ireland during the
Troubles. I believe the chances that Queen Elizabeth will come to an untimely
demise are roughly equivalent to Lord Mountbatten surviving his attack.)

The Duffy books are
historical, but the principle applies to non-period works. I actually made a
conscious decision to do exactly this in Penns River without realizing it.
Penns River stands in for three small, adjacent cities in Western Pennsylvania.
I’ve even gone so far as to make a Google map of “Penns River” that encompasses
the three cities (and one township) that make up Neshannock County. I use
actual street names and locations so I never have to worry about McBain’s
conundrum of forgetting where I put things.

This also allows me
to create places as needed. Just because I used Leechburg Road and Drey Street
and the coffee shop on Tarentum Bridge Road doesn’t mean any of this is real; there is no such place as Penns
River or Neshannock County in Pennsylvania. This frees me up to create whatever
else I want, such as a casino in an abandoned shopping mall, or to decide Ben
Dougherty lives in the last townhouse in the row near the top of Garver’s Ferry
Hill. They exist in that fictional version of the Tri-Cities. Reader response
to Worst Enemies and Grind Joint implies the technique is
effective.

Lots of ways to order Res Mall

Worst Enemies, Book 1 of the Penns River series

Click the cover to buy

Grind Joint, Book 2 of the Penns River series

Click the cover to buy

Forte 4: A Dangerous Lesson Available Now! Click the image below to purchase.

Chicago Private Investigator Nick Forte’s official task is to find out what he can about Jennifer Vandenbusch’s new suitor, who fails to measure up in the eyes of the family matriarch, Jennifer’s grandmother. This seems par for the course for Forte, as his personal life has been leading him through a series of men who treat women badly, though none nearly as badly as the Thursday Night Slasher. Forte lives on the fringes of the investigation run by his old friend Sonny Ng until elements of Forte’s case and life dovetail with the Slasher investigation, leading to Forte discovering more about the crimes—and himself—than he wanted to know.

The Man in the Window

"...we see him getting rougher, tougher and darker book by book. There are multiple twists in the end, two cool sidekicks, good action scenes and some pretty nifty Chanderlisms in this book, adding up to a perfect PI read"--Sons of Spade blog

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (Nick Forte 2)

It's a kind of authorial magic that The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of works as a tribute and as a story, and that neither aspect interferes in the least with the other… I can imagine this book finding its way into a class on writing crime fiction as an example of how to pay tribute to one's predecessors while at the same time writing a story that can stand on its own. It's an impressive accomplishment.--- Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders, December 18, 2014

About Me

Two of my Nick Forte Private investigator novels (A SMALL SACRIFICE and THE MAN IN THE WINDOW) received nominations for Shamus Awards. I also write a series of police procedurals set in the economically depressed town of Penns River PA, published by Down & Out Books. A non-fiction essay, “Chandler’s Heroes,” appeared in Spinetingler Magazine online in October of 2013.
I live in Laurel MD with The Beloved Spouse.